Stories Before Sept 2016

When you work in TV News (or run a TV news website) you have to have some very thick skin.

Viewers can say some nasty things about you and then again they can just be downright mean.

Take the example of WIVB (Buffalo) Reporter Ed Drantch.

Viewers invite Drantch into their homes every day when they tune in to WIVB Channel 4 News. He’s got a stellar resume, a lively personality and he’s the kind of reporter that colleagues say makes them proud to be in the industry.

He’s also gay, and after casually mentioning his boyfriend during an April interview with the Buffalo News, just about everybody knows it.

That’s fine with him, he said. No regrets. But apparently his sexuality is not fine with everybody.

When Drantch walked into work on Christmas Day, he opened a card from a viewer that can only be described as hate mail, and a snapshot of it has made its way around local social networks.

It’s not the first less-than-classy reaction he’s gotten since the Buffalo News published the article, he said, although this took it to a different level.

" I was very proud of the article. It's not every day that someone from the Buffalo News wants to interview you. And then I got that in the mail. It hurt. It really hurt", said Drantch to MyBuffaloPride.com.

"When I showed it to my news director, she said, "Laugh it off." At first I was taken aback by her response. But the more I thought about it, I realized she was right. I mean, who does something like that? In 2013, for someone to take the time to find the article, cut it out, write that and send it in. It's ridiculous."